FLIGHTS to New York could eventually take the same amount of time as it does to fly to Tenerife – and passengers might be onboard sooner than you think.
X-59 QueSST, nicknamed the “Son of Concorde” has been developed by NASA to travel as much as 300mph faster than current commercial flights.
At the speed of over 900mph, the aircraft could travel from London to New York in 3hr45 – far less than it does to get to some of the Spanish islands.
Currently, flights from the UK to New York take around 7hr30, on average.
With the jet it could be under four hours which is even quicker than a flight to Tenerife at 4hr30.
Most commercial flights currently operate at around 600mph but the aircraft is set to conduct test flights where it will reach supersonic speeds of 630mph at 43,000ft for the first time.
After that, NASA said that “mission conditions” will follow where the jet will go even faster.
If successful, it is hoped that supersonic flights could launch by 2029.
Don’t worry about hearing a sonic boom either – despite the sound barrier sitting at 660mph, the aircraft have been designed to avoid this.
Instead it will create a sonic “thump”, which is “about as loud as a car door closing”.
Up until now, NASA has been conducting tests in wind tunnels or in the skies but at slower speeds.
The jet is dubbed the ‘Son of Concorde’ as Concorde was the world’s very first supersonic airliner that first flew passengers in 1976.
Concorde’s fastest recorded flight was on February 7, 1996, when British Airways flew Concorde from New York’s JFK airport to London Heathrow in two hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds.
Around 20 Concordes were created, but the fleet was grounded in 2003.
This was three years after the crash of an Air France flight, in which all passengers and crew were killed.
Low passenger numbers and high costs were also cited as reasons for the ending of Concorde.
When Concordes were flying they would often break the sound barrier, causing the shaking of windows and creating a loud noise that replicated thunder when passing overhead.
Fancy seeing a real Concorde plane? You can see retired ones at Manchester Airport, Aerospace Bristol or Brooklands Museum in Surrey.